Acquired Taste
by EllipsesBandit
Summary: Fuji makes Tezuka a birthday sundae. Be afraid. Be very afraid. TezuFuji fluff. Happy birthday, Buchou!


_**Acquired Taste**_

_Author: The EllipsesBandit..._

_Disclaimer: This fic is a product of too much tennis and Iron Chef, therefore please blame Konomi and Chairman Kaga._

_Pairings: TezuFuji_

_Rating: K+ for shounen-ai fluff_

_Summary: Fuji makes Tezuka a birthday dessert. Be afraid. Be very afraid. Happy Birthday, Buchou! _

_A/N: This may be the shortest writing to posting time ever. I'm not in a rush to get something out for Tezuka's birthday. Why would I be in a rush? Anyway, hope it satisfies everyone's fluff need for this auspicious day. If you have a sec, drop me a review to boost my self-esteem. And thanks to microgirl for inspiring ice cream fics._

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Fuji's sundaes were the stuff of legends. The ancient, eldritch, tentacled kinds of legends that lived in forgotten sewer systems or buried in underground caverns. So, when Fuji presented Tezuka with his birthday sundae for the third year in a row, the buchou felt somewhat suspicious.

He sniffed at it experimentally. Fuji's masterpiece contained three scoops of a white, seemingly innocent ice cream, doused in several layers of different-colored sauces. What appeared to be roasted almonds decorated the top layer along with a crown of whipped cream and about half a bushel of maraschino cherries. He couldn't smell any wasabi powder, but Fuji generally covered up more esoteric ingredients with liberal mixes of chocoloate and caramel.

"Ne, Tezuka, it's not poisoned," Fuji chided, though his smile increased just slightly. The tensai watched Tezuka inspect the creation from the other side of the table, chin resting one hand. Meanwhile, Tezuka poked experimentally at a reddish-brown powder that dotted the whipped cream.

"It's cinnamon, Tezuka. The only spice I used on yours is cinnamon," Fuji assured him in the voice cult figures used while urging followers to drink the Kool-aid. Tezuka gingerly dipped one finger in the whipped cream, tasting it while Fuji chuckled and spooned a large scoop of his own dessert into his mouth. Fuji's sundae had a suspiciously green sauce coating it and was studded with lychee fruits.

"What kind of ice cream is it?" Tezuka asked, trying to part the waterfalls of syrup to better view the sundae's base. He would not easily forget Fuji's homemade eel ice cream of last year.

"Vanilla. Ordinary vanilla. Anything else would have been buried by the flavor of the toppings."

The frown remained on Tezuka's face. "And has either of these syrups been ... improved?"

"I told you I wouldn't ask Inui for help again after freshmen year," Fuji sighed. "Trying to make a sundae healthy is like trying to make a cat bark."

Of course Fuji wouldn't try that again. Fuji never set the same trap twice, and whatever he had planned this year would remain a mystery until Tezuka inevitably fell for it. He grimaced just thinking about it.

"Do you prefer your ice cream melted or shall I spoon feed it to you?" Fuji asked.

Tezuka took a moment to glare at the amused tensai, then resolutely dug his spoon into the sticky mess. He worked his face to remain stoic even as he held his breath, shut his eyes and ...

Tezuka blinked. It was ... sweet, that was for sure. It probably contained enough sugar to send him into a diabetic coma if he ate too much. The ice cream was definitely vanilla, though it had to be some sort of gourmet brand for the flavor to override all the other ingredients. And the cinnamon-- that was the sort of touch only Fuji would add to make a dish his signature. And yet...

"Something wrong?" Fuji stirred his own absinthe-colored concoction innocently.

Tezuka tapped excess sundae off of his spoon and back into the bowl. Then he reached forward, sliding Fuji's bowl toward him and trading his own back. "No," he said, taking a bite. Definitely a fish-based cream. Possibly salmon from the coloring. It complemented the wasabi syrup well, though. And the lychee fruits added the exact amount of sweetness necessary.

Fuji's smile spread into a victorious smirk. He briskly emptied the contents of the sweet sundae into the garbage, then scooted his own chair closer to Tezuka's. "Happy birthday, Kunimitsu," he said, leaning over to brush a light kiss on the buchou's cheek. The skin there, Tezuka knew, would continue to tingle for several minutes afterward.

He took another resigned bite of the sundae. Some things were an acquired taste.

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_A/N: I'm trying to remember wich Iron Chef made the fish ice cream. I want to say Morimoto, but it could have been Michiba. Course, I think it's been done a couple of times, and each time I cringe._


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